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PS3/X360 Preview - 'Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon'

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon redefines the brand's irreverent Sci-Fi action gaming experience for the next-generation Xbox 360 and PS3 with new weapons and mental abilities, high-fidelity destruction and expanded open-world gameplay. In Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon, players will pick up where prequel Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed leaves off, controlling Crypto in the Funked Out 1970s when a mysterious new enemy attacks, launching a conspiracy that unravels Crypto's groovy new way of life and threatens the very survival of his Furon race.

Cryptosporidium, the fast-talking, anal-probing, human-zapping, smartass from outer space is back and ready to wreak havoc in the swinging '70s during his first next-gen foray. Picking up where the second game left off (we'll just politely pretend that the disappointing Wii release simply doesn't exist), Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon finds Crypto living the good life in Las Paradiso, running a casino and picking up babes. Unfortunately, just like its real-life counterpart, Vegas, Las Paradiso is a hive of scum and villainy, and before you know it, Crypto is back on the warpath.

As the story unfolds, Crypto faces off against Mafia enforcers, military men, martial arts masters and a vast alien conspiracy bent on your destruction. Oh, and you'll also have to find an ancient Furon Zen master in order to learn the secret of Enlightenment. It's a tall order, but someone has to do it. The limited amount of dialogue we heard is all done in the same tongue-in-cheek fashion as the prior outings, so if you enjoyed the camp humor of the prior titles, it's a safe bet you'll be laughing along with this one. J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Horvitz have returned as the voices of Crypto and Orthopox, respectively.

After learning the basic controls (and entering a few cheat codes to unlock all the weapons), we went hands-on with Crypto and the city of Sunnywood, which is modeled after the facade of Hollywood. Controlling Crypto is spot-on, which is a welcome change from the somewhat-mushy control system that plagued the Wii version of the game. New to this iteration is the ability to use your jet pack, fire your weapons and use your telekinesis simultaneously. This allows for some pretty creative carnage as you tear up the town.

All the standard weapons make a return appearance, with some noticeable improvements. For example, the Anal Probe is now heat-seeking as well as multi-shot capable. You can simply target a group of humans and fire away, letting off multiple probes with each shot. New goodies include the Superballer, a psychedelic rubber ball that leaves a rainbow trail as it bounces victims to their doom; the Black Hole Gun, which generates a massive black hole sucking up everything in the immediate area; and the Venus Human Trap. Once activated, the Venus Human Trap emerges from the ground and feeds on any human within range.

Crypto's saucer has also gotten an upgrade, with multiple seeker missiles, a plasma cannon that can be charged before firing, and the always fun Tornadotron, which takes control of the weather and summons a massive Tornado. Who needs missiles when you can let Mother Nature do the dirty work?

Perhaps the coolest new ability, though, is the Temporal Fist. Activating the Temporal Fist gives Crypto a limited ability to stop time and use the environment to his advantage. The trick here is that anything thrown by Crypto retains its momentum but doesn't start moving until you restart time. This makes it possible to use anything as a weapon. For example, freeze time at a busy intersection, and use telekinesis to toss a few cars (and people!) and the soldiers who are trying to kill you. As soon as time restarts, those poor saps won't know what hit them.

Both the physics and damage systems have also received an upgrade, allowing for some pointless (but quite amusing) antics. One such diversion was referred to as "car surfing" by the developer giving us the demo. First, we jumped on top of a car and then fired a Disclocator into the vehicle. As the car started bouncing around the level, the challenge was simply staying on top and riding it like a surfboard.

In addition to Las Paradiso and Sunnywood, Path of the Furon also features Shen Long, which is modeled after Hong Kong, and Belleville, which is inspired by Paris. Players will also be visiting a fifth city, but mum's the word on location. All we were able to get out of the developer was that the last location is somewhere "in space."

Multiplayer hasn't been overlooked, with a number of distinct modes being offered up. You can have a go with Ion Soccer, team up with a friend to compete against the automated alert system in Brain-o-Matic, and compete to abduct specific items in Abduct-o-Rama. There is also a versus mode called Goliath, which puts one player on the ground as Crypto and drops another into his saucer.

You'll get a chance to go hands-on with Crypto yourself, when the demo for Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon hits Xbox Live in late July or early August. The full game is due on store shelves sometime in September. Be sure to check back for our full review then.